40 research outputs found
language, class, and assimilation in American literature
Elektronische Version der gedr. Ausg. 199
The Sarcophagus and the City: Reflections on Chernobyl and the Dystopian Imagination
âChernobylâ has become synonymous with the deathly dangers of radiation, a word evoking fear and horror that continues to color the meaning of the ruined remains at the center of the exploded reactor n° 4 in the so-called âZone of Exclusion.â  At the same time, over the past dozen yearsâuntil the war in Ukraine in 2022âthe site has been a magnet attracting a steady stream of âdark tourismâ and âstalkersâ who want to get as close as possible to what they imagine Chernobyl represents. Using photographic representation and other visual media, along with historical sources, this article explores Chernobyl (the old Sarcophagus, the New Arch, and the ruins of Pripyat) as a composite cultural symbol embodying the contradictions of utopia and dystopia and as a monument to the failures of authoritarian epistemology.Le nom de "Tchernobyl" est devenu synonyme du danger mortel des radiations et Ă©voque la peur et l'horreur que reprĂ©sentent les vestiges laissĂ©s par lâexplosion au centre du rĂ©acteur n° 4, au sein de ce que lâon appelle la "zone d'exclusion". ParallĂšlement, au cours des douze derniĂšres annĂ©es, - jusqu'Ă la guerre en Ukraine en 2022 - le site a attirĂ© un flux constant de "thanatouristes" et dâindividus animĂ©s par une fascination morbide pour ce quâils imaginent de la catastrophe de Tchernobyl. Sur la base de reprĂ©sentations photographiques et d'autres mĂ©dias visuels, ainsi que de sources historiques, cet article explore le site de Tchernobyl (l'ancien sarcophage, la nouvelle arche et les ruines de Pripyat) comme un symbole culturel composite incarnant les contradictions de l'utopie et de la dystopie et comme un monument aux Ă©checs de l'Ă©pistĂ©mologie autoritaire
Reclaiming heritage: colourization, culture wars and the politics of nostalgia
This article considers the discursive continuities between a specifically liberal defence of cultural patrimony, evident in the debate over film colourization, and the culture war critique associated with neo-conservatism. It examines how a rhetoric of nostalgia, linked to particular ideas of authenticity,canonicity and tradition,has been mobilized by the right and the left in attempts to stabilize the confguration and perceived transmission of American cultural identity. While different in scale, colourization and multiculturalism were seen to create respective (postmodern) barbarisms against which defenders of culture, heritage and good taste could unite. I argue that in its defence of the âclassicâ work of art, together with principles of aesthetic distinction and the value of cultural inheritance,the anti-colourization lobby helped enrich and legitimize a discourse of tradition that, at the end of the 1980s, was beginning to reverberate powerfully in the conservative challenge to a âcrisisâ within higher education and the humanities. This article attempts to complicate the contemporary politics of nostalgia, showing how a defence of cultural patrimony has distinguished major and minor culture wars, engaging left and right quite differently but with similar presuppositions
Virtual culture and the logic of American technology
Cet article analyse l'expĂ©rience culturelle amĂ©ricaine Ă travers la mĂ©diation technologique, de ses origines Ă l'Ăšre virtuelle. La thĂšse dĂ©veloppĂ©e consiste Ă soutenir que la rĂ©alitĂ© virtuelle contemporaine se place sur un continuum, non pas une rupture, avec des formes culturelles prĂ©valentes aux Ătats-Unis depuis le XIXe siĂšcle au moins. L'article explore l'articulation de ces formes Ă travers la poĂ©sie et l'imaginaire romantique tout autant qu 'Ă travers les artefacts produits par la culture populaire amĂ©ricaine. Il nous plonge ainsi au confluent de la rĂ©alitĂ© et de la virtualitĂ©, lĂ oĂč utopies et dystopies se disputent le terrain de la reprĂ©sentation.Orvell Miles. Virtual culture and the logic of American technology. In: Revue Française d'Etudes AmĂ©ricaines, N°76, mars 1998. L'AmĂ©rique entre science et fiction. pp. 12-27